So, I've been submitting and lurking around for a while and one thing with the webtoon banner system kinda remains a mystery to me. From what I've gathered, staff picks the series to be featured there and that's fair enough. But what remains a mystery to me, the pattern with some of the new comics I've seen there. They all seem to become featured right the day they've been uploaded, with 3-5 episodes uploaded at once and they already get the green "stickers" with their upload schedule on their info page. The authors usually have no previous works on webtoons, so there really isn't anything that makes them stand out from the rest of the Discover crowd. And since there isn't any submission process for the feature section - then how come these new series seem so orchestrated and curated from within? Was there some kind of program or contest in the past where people pitched their comics and had a certain date by which they needed to get several episodes ready for upload and promotion? I couldn't seem to find any such info, and am just curious about actual chances to be featured.

The authors usually have no previous works on webtoons, so there really isn't anything that makes them stand out from the rest of the Discover crowd.

A lot of times, creators promote their works and publish at other places in addition to Webtoons. They might go to Tapas, Smackjeeves, Webcomics App, even social medias like Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook.

Bottom line -- they've built a following elsewhere (which may have followed them to Webtoons), and they've promoted their abilities on other social medias. You don't necessarily have to be on Webtoons a good while to be featured there.

Some people chalk it up to luck, and that can play a part. But a lot of times, you're not seeing the Behind-the-Scenes -- which includes the questions:

"How did they promote themselves?"

"Did they post other works elsewhere?"

"How did they network with other people?"

"Is this their first comic or did they create other works before this?"

Nah, I get that the readers aren't only gained by that banner and the authors might as well have other comics under their belt, but the thing is that these new comics are uploaded the very same day they show up on the banner with a "New series" sticker. Are you implying the staff scouts them out on other websites?

That can be a factor? I don't work for Webtoons or know all of the ins and outs, but a few other creators know a bit more, so they could speak to it better. I doubt it's active scouting outside of Webtoons, but they do have social media -- which is a way for creators to connect and ask questions and build connections.

My main thing is that there's probably some form of networking at play. I'd like to heavily assume people aren't just picked by random but by the brand name they've created for themselves. People become familiar with your work and it helps to open a few doors.

Now what does that spell for the chances of being featured? Well, in general, it's a pretty slim chance. Mostly based on the saturation of comics and the different skills and experiences each creator can bring to the table. There's also luck involved, but that's mixed into how you get yourself out there as well.

Hmmm, if you mean the webtoons on the banner with the red sticker "new series", those are the ones that are featured, aren't they? Meaning they are the paid series webtoon picked to release regularly. On the banner, usually only the last three are promoted series form Discover that are not featured. And they are of course there on the very day they are first uploaded since they have become official series and webtoon wants to lure new readers. I think it is the best way to show a new featured series has been launched. Or do you mean something else?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Nachi's explanation is the answer you're looking for, but it's also possible that you didn't find the work on webtoon previously because a lot of creators erase the series or episodes before they launch. Also, it may have just not caught your eye before they get the giant homepage banner.Scouting from other sites isn't unheard of with wt, but judging from some of the comments on the newest one, it looks like the former is the case.

Also try to put the name of the series in the search bar. Only clicking on the author in the featured section probably won't or doesn't have to show you other discover results. But if you search the name, you can see there is a Discover duplicate.

Maybe they work for Webtoons. I was also approached by Webtoons and they asked me to apply for a comic maker job. They already had the story, and they said if I will be chosen, we will release the first episodes at once, because it is necessary to make readers emotionally invested in characters and the story and it needs a longer first update. And of course in this case, they would instantly make my comic into featured section.

I do mean them, but I don't understand where the staff picks them out off. As far as I've gathered the staff can pick series that been going for a while and receive good reader scores and subscriptions - sorta the "underappreciated" ones they then put in the spotlight. I've seen these comics, they can be relatively new (a couple of months old) or long runners a couple of years worth. Plus promote their already big comics you see as the most popular in their categories.

But what about stats like this (I'm not picking on the content or worthiness of the comic, it's just the example from today's banner)?

A Featured series on Webtoon is similar to Premium comics on Tapas, when Tapas has a new premium comic it is often promoted heavily on the front page with only a few episodes up. It's the same with webtoons, the banners with "New series" written on them are featured webtoon exclusive comics so they get promoted when they're launched.

I see why youre confused. The webtoon "featured" comics are not new at all, theyre all series' either personally commissioned by webtoons or from the Discover tab that are at least 6 or so months old. This is because their current buffer from a series being chosen to be featured and when its actually uploaded into featured is about that long, to give the artist time to redraw their pages and get a lot of chapters done to be put in queue so WT probably wont have to deal with flaky comic artists. So even though in a new featured webtoon you might only see 4 chapters, there might actually be 50 chapters done from that persons time in Discover, which are now being staggered to a wider audience.

Almost every WT in featured will have been in the discover tab, you can usually find the old skeleton of the featured WT by searching up the author name. Usually itll be titled something like [MOVED TO FEATURED] and all the chapters will be deleted and replaced with placeholders. Or the discover version might be deleted entirely. They cant just flip a switch in WT HQ to turn a discover comic into the featured section, it needs to be entirely reuploaded.

There are some exceptions, like maybe the pacific rim or star wars comic which I think was commissioned specifically for WT so it went directly into featured. Stuff like that.

Thanks, this makes things more clear - too bad WT themselves have very vague information concidering the subject matter. Good thing here the people usually use both platforms and are more aware of how things are ran, it was highly frustrating to see these "new" comics get what seemed to be a headstart, while sitting over an 8-page weekly episode.

to add to this, a bunch of them were also either winners from the recent WT contest (Love Advice from The Great Duke of Hell, The Four of Them, Edith...etc) or participants that didn't win the grand prize, but still got a Featured offer cuz their work was exceptional (like Purple Hyacinth)

Edith's a lonely mess. She's desperate to be in a relationship, but her high standards get in the way of her finding love. All she wants is a handsome, older, successful man. A perfect prince that will rescue her from her mundane life. Yet,...

Edith is beautiful, talented, kind and soulful. Everybody can see that…except of course for Edith, whose self-esteem is in desperate need of a boost. Enter two less-than-perfect men: one who may be the Prince Charming she’s been waiting for to...

Very rarely you'll find a featured artist who didn't already have other work before being promoted. so yea, they really earned it.

it was highly frustrating to see these "new" comics get what seemed to be a headstart, while sitting over an 8-page weekly episode.

It's not a head start though, most of the people who do get featured on Webtoon have worked very hard on their careers as writers and artists, I know a creator who got featured on webtoon who has been uploading comics on Deviantart for years for no compensation and finally getting their well earned recognition. It's kinda rude to dismiss that as a head start when there is so much that happens behind the scenes.

this is my baby boy Arcus ;3; he is already 15 *snif* they grow up so fast TT3TT Arcus will be one of my main characters in my upcoming comic I'm planning to make when I'm finishing school its call...

this was her comment way back in 2011

Arcus will be one of my main characters in my upcoming comic I'm planning to make when I'm finishing school its called "Acception"so I will be posting a lot of crap in the future about Acception to try and make it popular, couse I have a good feeling about this story

Its hard to get accepted in highschool (this school takes place in the Netherlands!), Especially when you start in your first year with rainbow hair. Arcus has a hard time fitting in. Iris, Maud and Gale slowly start to play a bigger roll in his life...

With his rainbow-colored hair and love of all things fashion, Arcus is anything BUT your average teenager. He’s an upbeat independent thinker, proud fashionista, and like the rest of us, is just looking for a few friends to call his own.
Acception...

I feel so proud of her. She worked hard for this and earned it. And she is just one example i know personally. Please don't be so dismissive at other artists' achievements. you don't know how hard they worked their ass off to get to this point.

I understand that, as I said it "seemed" like a headstart, since the comic was uploaded the very day it started promoting. Webtoons isn't clear about the process of featured and LINE comics, so it's won't be obvious for someone new to the site.

I am not being dismissive of their achievements, as I said, I have nothing against the comics featured. It's just that before recent the comics I checked via the banner where all series that had pages where I saw how long they ran (being both Discovery and Line), they didn't seem to pop out of nowhere within the site itself. They all had issues from way back. You can see why an "uploaded the same day it was promoted" comics can cause confusion for a person new to the site - Webtoons isn't clear that a work is moved from Discovery to Line with a fresh start. This is why I asked the question here - not to diss featured comics, but to get an insight on what how the process works, because for a newcomer it isn't obvious and there isn't anywhere on Webtoon I can address it.

P.S, - Also the recent video from the staff that gives tips to new authors didn't help clear the confusion - they said that uploading 3 episodes at the very start can help better hook up readership, and as far as correlation and causation goes, these "new series" seemed like they got lucky with a good start that caught the staffs eye.